‘It’ made its way to the living room, stepping on the shattered glass. As ‘it’ came closer, my mouth fell open. The creature seemed to embody death itself.. If I had been surrounded by hyenas, I would have given myself a chance at survival, but I knew there was no way to survive this thing. Its body was pitch black and shiny, as though covered in oil. It was skinny, but I could tell it wasn’t weak. Rather, it seemed like it was packed with muscle. Most shocking of all was that it only had a mouth on its face.

The fear of death enveloped me. Every part of me was begging me to run away. My mind kept telling me to get away, but my body didn’t budge. It was the exact opposite from what had happened earlier. The creature came right up to my face and opened its mouth wide.

‘Is it going to scream again?’ Is it going to eat me?’

I couldn’t hear anymore. The creature was emitting a continuous, high-pitched whine.

Twist, twist.

Just as the creature was about to bite my neck, its attention was suddenly drawn toward the bedroom. I unconsciously followed its gaze. I couldn’t quite hear what was going on but I could see that the door knob was moving irregularly. So-Yeon was trying to come out.

‘So-Yeon, no!’

My ears were nearly going deaf, so I couldn’t tell if I’d said her name out loud, but it was definitely her. She was trying to come out. I didn’t even want to contemplate what would happen if she came out at that moment. I got myself together and picked up the worn out mop. Wielding my makeshift weapon, I went straight for ‘its’ neck.

Stab!

I got ‘it’ right in the neck. Despite how dull the end of the mop was, it only made sense that it would pierce the creature’s neck. However, despite putting my full strength behind the strike, the mop simply passed by. More accurately, it bounced off the creature’s neck. Its skin was clearly very thick, almost like a layer of armor.

‘Don’t I have any strength left in my arms? Or have I lost my strength altogether?’

The creature’s gaze flicked toward me, noticing that I was up to something. As soon as ‘it’ saw me with the mop, it grew enraged. ‘It’ opened its mouth again and whacked the mop out of my hands. I could feel my right arm being dislocated.

“Huh? What the…”

My eyes popped out of my head when I saw my broken arm.

‘This is horrifying. I’m beyond scared.’

However, even at that moment, I could only think of one thing.

‘Please So-Yeon, stay inside! You cannot come outside!’

But I couldn’t say those words out loud. My soul had already been crushed by this monster’s presence, and I couldn’t even breathe properly. In a flash, ‘it’ went straight for my belly. It all happened in an instant. My eyes couldn’t keep up with its lightning-quick movements. I was so surprised that I couldn’t even scream. All I saw was my insides being torn apart.

“ARGHHH!”

The pain finally hit me and I let out a scream. It felt like I was being burned alive. I couldn’t breathe. I saw my end approaching.

“ARGH! JESUS! ARGHHH!”

I started screaming nonsense that even I couldn’t understand. I did the best I could, striking its head and pushing it away from me. However, the more I struggled, the more drained I felt, until I had no more strength left in me.

‘I… I can’t die.’

Even as I was dying, I couldn’t let go of the hope of surviving. I was screaming for dear life while covered in tears and snot. Even after seeing all my insides spill out, I couldn’t give up on myself. It wasn’t because I wanted to live.

‘Who would take care of So-Yeon if I died? What kind of life would she have if I died?’

I was worried that it would go for So-Yeon after finishing me. I couldn’t stop imagining her going through the same thing I was going through. Blood was oozing out of me as I reached for my knife. I wasn’t going to die alone. I couldn’t dare leave a monster like this alive. With my final blow, I went for its head.

Thud!

I stabbed the knife into its skull with all my might. I knew I had it this time. This was my final blow. To my horror, it only produced a small scratch. All my blood was rushing to my head, and I felt my body getting colder. I felt my blood rushing through my throat, eventually spilling out of my mouth. I kept on repeating the same thing to myself, even as I was losing my mind:

“Don’t… come… out. No…”

Thud.

My heart was beating madly, and it felt as though it was going to beat for the last time. I could no longer see what was in front of me. I could tell that I had taken my last breath. I was slowly passing out.

‘Why am I not breathing? How do you breathe again?’

I couldn’t breathe. I felt myself falling into an abyss. I could not resist the ground pulling me down.

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes and stared into the air above me. I wondered how much time had passed. I stared blankly at the ceiling of the living room. The warmth and laughter around me seemed unreal. I turned toward the noise, my gaze drawn toward the kitchen.

My wife and So-Yeon were there. For some reason, seeing them made me somewhat sad. I missed this whole atmosphere so much. My wife, my sweetheart, and this tranquility. I got up and walked toward the kitchen. Very quickly, I realized something was wrong. There was a glass wall in front of the table, blocking my way to them.

“Honey, honey!”

I called with all my might, but neither of them seemed to notice. They were unaware of my presence, as if we were in two different worlds. I struck the wall as hard as I could, trying to draw their attention. My hand hurt like hell, but I could not stop banging. I wanted to break this wall down so that I could be next to my family. As I got more desperate, I started tearing up.

‘Why, why, why…’

I wasn’t sure why I was this sad, but this inexplicable feeling was, without a doubt, pure sadness. At that moment, So-Yeon looked toward me. She seemed to sense my presence, and ran toward me with a big smile. However, my wife stopped her. As she did so, her face took on an expression that I had never seen before.

Her eyes were full of hate. She glared at me and whispered, “How could you let yourself go like that? Your job was to keep her safe!”

I felt as though my world was falling apart.

‘Me, not doing my part? I risked my life to save her. Now you’re telling me that I was being irresponsible? What did you do? What have you ever done in this damned world?’

An incomprehensible rage took over me, and I started screaming at the top of my lungs.

“GRR!”

‘What…? What is this sound? Am I making this noise?’

I rubbed my neck. I couldn't feel anything, even though I was touching different parts of it. I looked at my stomach.

‘Huh?’

My eyes almost popped out. I could see my intestines spilling out from my stomach.

‘What is going on? Should I try putting them back in? What good would that do?’

My mind went blank. A wave of fear and confusion rushed over me. Then it hit me.

‘Am I dead?’

“Daddy!”

I heard So-Yeon’s voice from afar. She was holding onto her mom’s hand and calling me. I calmed down and reminded myself of my purpose.

‘She needs me. My sweetie’s looking for me!’

I punched the wall even harder.

‘Please break already! Jesus Christ!’

“Grr!”

I threw myself at the wall, shattering the obstacle that was separating us. I grabbed her hand, but as I did so, my wife started fading away.

“Daddy!”

So-Yeon ran up to me as if she had been waiting for the wall to break. I gave her a hug and calmed her down.

‘It’s alright sweetie. Daddy’s right here.’

For some reason, I couldn’t say the words out loud. I hugged her for a while, thinking of how I wasn’t going to let this happen again.

‘I am not going to let go of her ever again. I will never leave her alone again.’

Thud.

My heart awakened my soul.

* * *

“GRR!”

I woke up howling. My spit splattered all over the place. I continued to breathe heavily as I slowly got myself together.

‘Am I dreaming? Or am I alive?’

I looked around and noticed bloody bits of broken glass all over the floor. I patted down my body remembering what happened last night. I could still picture the pitch-black creature tearing out my stomach. I swallowed hard and looked down. To my surprise, nothing was wrong with my stomach. My clothes were torn, but that was it. I was just slightly paler than usual.

‘I made it huh? I’m a survivor!’

I couldn’t stop smiling. I got up and felt better than ever. I remembered being in so much pain before I fainted, but now I felt as good as new. As I basked in the joyous fact that I was alive, a familiar face flashed through my mind.

‘So-Yeon!’

I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about her. I rushed toward the bedroom. But then, I felt something squishy underneath me. I looked down immediately. I couldn’t tell what it was, so I got on my knees to take a closer look.

‘There’s no doubt… these are my intestines.’

My mind went blank for a second, then I rubbed my stomach. I carefully prodded my stomach around and realized that my hand was being sucked in, as if it was empty. My stomach felt like a spongy rubber ball… it was hollow. My skin felt like a slab of frozen meat. I stared at my hand for a while and carefully placed it on my heart.

“...”

I couldn’t feel anything.

‘Does this mean my heart isn’t working? Wait… then could this possibly mean…?’’

My mind came to an abrupt halt. I couldn’t process all of this.

‘How am I moving with a heart that isn’t beating? How am I thinking, yet alone seeing anything?’

I stood still, trying to understand what was happening.

Twist, twist.

I could hear a door knob turning somewhere. I looked toward the bedroom and saw the couch blocking the entrance.